[SNiPPYUK]

Today I was massively craving some Nandos so I hopped in the car and drove 50 miles to Cribbs Causeway in Bristol. Whilst there I decided to pop my head in to the Vodafone store to see if I could probe one of the reps about a passport.

Was having a good old chat to the store rep and then decided to drop the passport name, I asked whether he knew when it would be coming. He replied with " I honestly don't think that we will get it. Blackberry is on the down ". He went on to tell me that the Q10 is probably the last one that they will sell.

I'm still in 2 minds about whether or not he was right.....

Any input ??

[skibnik]

There have been various threads on this basically it's uninformed or more likely ignorant sales clerks out there that want to up sell you the latest android or Apple product.

Can't count how many times I have heard BlackBerry is dead yet they seem to be holding on lol.

Z30 and loving it!

[mEntal8y]

The employees of mobile carrier are basically the slave ants that carry the food (and waste). Opinionated and affected by influence of the hive-mind complex. lol. According to some carrier employees BB was sold and is know operated by an Asian company - Highly knowledgeable right?
I did crack up hysterically in store, then returned to the serious business - enlightenment.

[Parrillas NY]

Blackberry Limited Need a strategic World M A R K E T I N G campaign!!

[gg bb]

OP, Blackberry have nothing on offer for Vodafone until more people like you walk in, ask about the BlackBerry Passport, Listen politely to their claptrap, respond "Oh really" and walk straight back out again.

[RECOOL]

Uk store staff dont know anothing about phones.until 1 week of launch.They didnt even know how to use teh Z10 when i went to get mine on 30th of jan.Most didnt even know or seen it.

[gg bb]

Uk store staff dont know anothing about phones.until 1 week of launch.They didnt even know how to use teh Z10 when i went to get mine on 30th of jan.Most didnt even know or seen it.

From my limited experience of Retail.
There are always top lines. Staff are usually given some basic training regarding selling the top lines. Then there are promotions and launches which are also a focus for staff to acquire knowledge. Just because a store are given stock of a product does not mean the staff are trained to sell it or they have a launch for the product. Fire sales are not same as promotions.
Store managers usually have some influence on what they stock but its rare for managers to be allowed to stock products not on a company wide product list.
The store performance may be measured on turnover against budget and top line sales against targets. A new BlackBerry is unlikely to be a top line in most markets. If a store stock BlackBerry chances are only one member of staff is trained to sell them if any.
So I think it works like this:
If you live in BlackBerry town in moto G country - Sales staff will try to sell moto G. If BlackBerry is on the product list and customers ask for them the store manager will likely stock them or increase stock, if not he may raise it with the area manager why isn't BlackBerry on product list. If a new BlackBerry is launched the retail company/division head office will try to assess demand and decide whether stores should stock any, specific deals with manufacturers may influence decisions. A product may be a special order product or have a minimum stock level of 0. Usually with a new product they will get every store to stock the product although stock may be as low as 1 or 2 units. If the stock levels are low there will be no launch training. If a store manager can't sell a product he may complain to the area manager, stop sending me this product, he won't necessarily be listened to. If at current company wide stock levels it would take years to shift stock -that would force a fire sale where prices are reduced and every store given a share or the stock to shift without any consideration for training.
Promotions are usually driven by deals between the manufacturer and the retailer not customer demand.
With a powerful manufacturer the manufacturer may demand store promotions of their products, they should not seek to influence promotion/lack of promotion of other manufacturers products or engage in price fixing. With most manufacturers promotions happen when the retailer obtains discounts on volume but needs to aggressively sell to shift high levels of stock.

PS - never worked in a phone shop, this is all very general. Feel free to agree/disagree

[enik]

There have been various threads on this basically it's uninformed or more likely ignorant sales clerks out there that want to up sell you the latest android or Apple product.

Can't count how many times I have heard BlackBerry is dead yet they seem to be holding on lol.

Z30 and loving it!

Realistically they may not get it. BlackBerry phones have been horrible sellers for every company I worked with, even the ones where reps had proper training. Hey may have been talking out his a**, but it has a very good chance of being righf.

Posted via CB10

[Banco]

Vodafone are actually one of the more supportive carriers. It's being launched in London, it seems unlikely they'd do that with no carrier support - and Vodafone would be the favourite.

Posted via CB10

[anon(1464249)]

Hearing a sales rep talking about a device they think won't be coming is reason enough to assume they won't get it or it won't sell well.
Staff needs to be trained to sell these phones. A rep saying he has 'no clue' definitely hasn't had training yet and at this point, 2-3 months before release it's probably too little too late if they ever get the device, let alone training about the device.

It's a bit weird cause Chen said the carrier reception to the Classic and the Passport was very positive.... Let's hope the Classic will be a game changer and the Passport makes some waves in Enterprise.

[II ARROWS]

Staff needs to be trained to sell these phones. A rep saying he has 'no clue' definitely hasn't had training yet and at this point, 2-3 months before release it's probably too little too late if they ever get the device, let alone training about the device.

Really? You usually need 2 minutes to explain a new device...
You could say, 30 minutes to explain in details BB 10, and maybe 10 minutes for the Passport.

[anon(1464249)]

Really? You usually need 2 minutes to explain a new device...
You could say, 30 minutes to explain in details BB 10, and maybe 10 minutes for the Passport.

You and I and most of the people on CrackBerry but have you ever asked a sales rep to explain a new device? The forums are littered with horror stories about misinformed sales reps.

Not to mention whenever I walk into a store there's always someone else behind the counter. It's a job that has a lot of throughput in terms of workforce.

Besides the phone should have been popping up in the systems by now...

Posted via CB10

[II ARROWS]

They don't know anything because they are not competent. Right.
But you don't need more than 30 minutes to teach how the BB10 OS works, and all the devices currently available from BlackBerry.

You said that 2-3 months from launch is too late.

[danp2000]

The big hurtle is getting over, in the sales staffs minds, the perception in the marketplace that BlackBerry is dead, makes outdated handsets or isn't going to make it.

The public momentum as well as encouraged misinformation is very strong even if it doesn't prove to be accurate.

Posted via CB10

[Banco]

You and I and most of the people on CrackBerry but have you ever asked a sales rep to explain a new device? The forums are littered with horror stories about misinformed sales reps.

Not to mention whenever I walk into a store there's always someone else behind the counter. It's a job that has a lot of throughput in terms of workforce.

Besides the phone should have been popping up in the systems by now...

Posted via CB10

It's an easy thing to post about, because it doesn't coincide with what the poster's perceptions are.

In my experience, Vodafone reps (I am on Vodafone, I can't comment on other carriers) have been pretty positive about BB10 phones whenever I've spoken to them, one going on an extended soliloquy about how great they are, and one on the phone asking if I minded talking to him for a couple of minutes about it because he wanted to hear from a user what was good about them so he could better explain it to those calling up to order if they were considering it.

I just didn't start a thread about any of that.

Posted via CB10

[SNiPPYUK]

No body ever really does post good reviews. In my working experience (I'm in customer service) you really only hear about people's Bad (or in my case miss-informed) experiences. Thanks for the input guys

Posted via CB10

[bluelights]

Personally the vodafone stores here in the UK are pretty useless, I always call up vodafone directly and just get the phone sent out to me next day delivery, failing that, pop into a carphone warehouse, if they don't have it in store they will order in for the next day, never had a problem, got my white z30 from voda directly, had one of the first ones I believe, they even posted my picks on the CrackBerry homepage woop!

Voda will 100% have the passport, out of all UK carriers they usually always have the latest bb10 handsets.

Posted via CB10

[freedomx20a]

if he needs a sale and knows they wont carry berrys he will say anything.

why don't you buy our floor model galaxy s5 blah lbha blah better